


anguish

by Distantvampire



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Death, Emotional, Loss, M/M, Sorrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 02:33:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Distantvampire/pseuds/Distantvampire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected part two to 'Sorrow' based on the prompt: http://imagineyourotp.tumblr.com/post/54942066212/tw-death </p><p>Imagine your OTP where person A has hallucinations of person B being alive after they have died because of their refusal to accept person B’s death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	anguish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [checkmate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkmate/gifts).



Approximately two weeks later and Bruce had barely left the bedroom. Tony's familiar scents were fading, the safety net is slipping, Bruce is _falling, falling, falling._ The slip starts slowly enough, and it's little things really, it's thinking that he hears humming and once he was certain that he felt lips on the back of his neck while he slept but that was ridiculous. That was illogical. That was impossible.

 

The first time he goes back into their lab he's almost instantly choked by the overwhelming feeling and just how _wrong_ it is. The silence swallowed up him and Bruce struggled at the doorway for a moment, a soft and broken sob stumbling out of his mouth. From somewhere in the lab a little chirp came melodiously his way and he realized with a horror that now what had been Tony's children had now become _his._ DUM-E stumbled over to him, his claw nudging him gently and even though it seemed preposterous he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around the robot. He stayed there crying until his tears ran out again but the robot seemed to understand and draped it's arm across the man's shoulders and he wondered if JARVIS had told them.

 

JARVIS himself speaks so infrequently it's like the first week in the Tower again when every time he heard that crisp voice it made him jump. Without Tony there to constantly blather on to the AI and the robots, Bruce was left to let them all fall into disarray. Of course JARVIS still told him goodmorning, goodnight, and all sorts of other pleasantries but Bruce didn't have the heart to answer anymore. Until one night JARVIS had played him a recording from shortly after _his_ room had become _their_ room. Bruce was asleep, face down, nuzzled against Tony's chest and the dark haired engineer was toying with his mop of curls. There was audio, too, Bruce realized with some horror, as he heard Tony's voice so soft and gentle and he was _singing_ to him as he slept.

 

“He only sang for you, Sir.”

 

And Bruce was crushed again. Somehow he cried _again_ and it was too much. Just too much. Sitting with his legs pulled tight against his chest with his fingers coiled tightly into white-knuckled balls he just, he just couldn't. Not even the Other Guy was any help, the roaring usually in his head had ebbed to the quiet rumbles of intimate sorrow. Sorrow was foreign to the Other Guy and it was just as frightening to realize that there was no end in sight.

 

Three weeks later, haggard and gaunt, and he was back in their lab pouring over all sorts of data and files. There had to be a way. There just had to be a way. No more sorrow, loneliness, no more memories of time passed. No more hollow dreams and thinking that maybe he'll just wake up and that would be it, a bad dream, the _worst_ dream. “You're going to wear yourself out, isn't it more fun when _I_ wear you out?” The voice makes him jump – makes his heart stammer and his chest hurt and he feels his stomach lurching dangerously as he turned towards the doorway. There is no way. Just no way. That grin, the way his eyes flashed, the way that he walked forward all confidence and strength. Bruce had fresh tears in his eyes, tears of happiness, of joy – his arms already reaching out to pull Tony close, to smell that familiar warm scent of power in the form of coconut and metal but just like that, it's gone, _Tony_ is gone and there is only the cold realization that it was a lie. “You have been awake for 75 hours, Sir. You are surpassing Mister Stark's record.” A lie, a hallucination. He fell to the floor, weak, exhausted, curling into the fetal position on the cold tile floor. DUM-E came rolling over, Bruce felt a blanket fall across his body. Hiding under the rough blanket, wallowing in his shame and sorrow, Bruce glanced up at the robot before pressing his temple back to the cold tile.

 

He would have given anything, _anything,_ to have Tony back. To be whole again.

 


End file.
